Rare Futurliner To Highlight Antiques on the Bay
Show To Feature Restored Cars Saturday at St. Ignace Marina
By Ryan Schlehuber

Futurliner No. 10 was one of 12 exhibit vehicles that displayed the cutting edge of automotive technology for General Motors in the 1950s. The restored vehicle will be featured at the 11th annual Antiques on the Bay at the St. Ignace Marina Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23. (Photographs courtesy of Nostalgia Productions, Incorporated)

Before the days when television was widely available in American homes, General Motors' Futurliners once traveled the country showcasing new automotive technology, in an exhibition known as "Parade of Progress." Only 12 of these custom caravans were made in the 1940s and '50s, and today only four are functional. Following extensive restoration, Futurliner No. 10 is once again on the road. This rare showcase vehicle will be the star attraction at this year's 11th annual St. Ignace Antiques on the Bay at the St. Ignace public marina Saturday, June 23.

Featured along with the Futurliner at Antiques on the Bay will be more than 60 vehicles from 1932, paying tribute to 75-year-old antiques. Show admission is free of charge. The event will begin with a rally across the Mackinac Bridge at 4:30 p.m. Friday, followed by a visit to residents of Mackinac Straits Hospital Long Term Care. Cars will be displayed from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the marina.

Perhaps Futurliner No. 10's most interesting features are its light bar, which raises seven feet above the roof line, and the construction of the red caravan's 16-foot by 5-foot side doors.

The show, for cars 25 years (1982) and older, focuses on restored antiques and is the warmup event to the Antique Auto Show the following week.

With its bold red body, Futurliner No. 10 stands 11 feet, seven inches tall, 33 feet long, and eight feet wide, and, including its interior items, weighs in at a hefty 30,000 pounds. Its 145 horsepower engine pushes the big rig's top speed to 35 miles per hour.

It features a four-speed, military hydramatic system with a twospeed gearbox, and a three-speed PTO gearbox. It is also equipped with two 45-gallon gas tanks.

Perhaps the most interesting feature is the light bar, which can extend seven feet above the roof line, and how the red caravan's 16- foot by five-foot side doors "open up like a clam," said Ed Reavie, of Nostalgia Productions, organizer of the annual Antiques on the Bay and the Antique Auto Show.

The restoration of Futurliner No. 10 took seven years and $200,000 in donations to finish. She was found at a museum in Indiana in an almost irreparable state, however, 30 retired automotive engineers have helped bring the rare vehicle back to life.

The light bar contains 60 30-watt florescent bulbs and four flood lights.

"It fell right in my lap," said Mr. Reavie about the opportunity to feature the Futurliner at Antiques on the Bay. The announcement came 10 days after the event's publications went to print, so the vehicle is not listed on some promotional materials.

Of the nine Futurliners known to still exist, only four are functional, and three have been restored to their original form. One was converted to a family motor home, and two others have been restored and modernized, while the rest are in disrepair.

One of the restored Futurliners was sold at a Barrett-Jackson auction for $4.2 million in January 2006.

"This will be a big draw for us," Mr. Reavie said of Futurliner No. 10.

An earlier version of Futurliners, called Streamliners, featured bubble glass canopies.

The idea of creating a futuristic show vehicle dawned at the World's Fair Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, where exhibits of innovative technology were displayed in the early 1930s. Afterward, GM executives, led by Charles Kettering, decided to take their show on the road and created the Parade of Progress, displaying eight Streamliners in more than 250 cities from 1936 to 1941.

By 1941, General Motors rolled out a new version of futuristic vehicles, with GMC Truck and Coach and Fisher Body, building 12 red Futurliners, before World War II halted the parade and the dozen exhibits on wheels were put in storage.

The Futurliner dozen were renovated in 1952 and the Parade of Progress was revived the following year, but the excitement of the idea soon died again, this time by a novel invention that would become an item in every American's home: the television.

Each of the 12 Futurliners were eventually sold. No. 10 was purchased in 1956 by Goebel Brewing Company in Detroit, which used the vehicle to promote the business at events. The company installed a stage with a public address system and a narrated display board explaining the brewing process.

After 1964, when Goebels was purchased by Strohs Company, No. 10 was purchased by Pulte Construction in Detroit to help promote building projects.

Don Mayton of Zeeland, a retired GM plant manager, became interested in the Futurliner after seeing one pass by while he and his wife were sitting at a cafe in Florida. Although it was converted into a family motor home, Mr. Mayton knew it was a GM product just by the look of the body.

"I worked for GM in Flint for 40 years, and I never even knew about them," Mr. Mayton said of the Futurliners.

Mr. Mayton began researching the history of the Futurliners and became interested in learning if another one may still exist. His search led him to the National Automotive and Truck Museum in Auburn, Indiana, where a Futurliner just happened to be waiting for a dedicated crew to restore it.

The vehicle was donated to the museum by Joe Bortz of Bortz Auto Collection in Illinois, but it was badly deteriorated, with many, if not all, of its parts inoperable.

Mr. Mayton gathered 30 retired "gearheads" to help him bring Futurliner No. 10 back to life.

The restoration project started in 1998 and, after seven years of work and fundraising, the vehicle made its first comeback appearance at GM's Eyes on Design auto show in June 2005, hitting five events in five days.

The group raised about $200,000 to restore the Futurliner.

"We'd send some parts to retired guys who specialized in parts, like the autronic eye, which sits on the dashboard and automatically dims the headlights," said Mr. Mayton. "We sent a bunch of parts that we didn't know what was what to one of our volunteers out of state, and he sent it back and it looked brand new."

GM was one of the big supporters of the restoration, providing Mr. Mayton with three engineers who recreated drawing plans from scratch.

Mr. Mayton's many letters to his fellow GM workers and retirees raised between $12,000 and $15,000.

Many original Futurliner parts were given to the Maytons from a restoration project in Canada, as one of the Futurliners was being restored there with modern parts, making the original ones available.

"We went up there with a box trailer to collect the original parts, but had to make two trips because there was so much," Mr. Mayton said. "We really benefited from that."

Futurliner No. 10 is a certified member of the Antique Auto Club of America, which keeps strict requirements for restoring autos to original form.

Riding the red behemoth is fun and offers a different experience than any of today's larger recreational vehicles, said Mr. Mayton.

"You sit up really high, and you're in the middle of the vehicle," he said. "You can't see full-size vehicles on either side of you, but you have to remember, this was made in the 1940s and it was used for parades. They didn't have to drive fast then."

When Mr. Mayton first discovered Futurliner No. 10, he was amazed that No. 10 had only logged 30,000 miles on its speedometer. The other Futurliners he tracked down had just as many.

"Although they did not have many miles on them, they did travel a lot, traveling throughout the U.S., to Canada, and they even made a trip to Cuba," he said. "They were static displays at many events."

One vehicle with Best of Show at Antiques on the Bay. The winner will be given a two-night stay for two at Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Awards will be presented at a Saturday evening dinner for show participants.